The Father’s Love - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace!

This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Children of the heavenly Father, safely in his bosom gathered, Nestling bird nor star in heaven, such a refuge ere was given. God his own doth tend and nourish, in his holy course they flourish, From all evil things he spares them, in his mighty arms he bears them. Neither life nor death shall ever, from the Lord his children sever, Under them his praise he showeth, and their sorrows all he knoweth.

Though he giveth or he taketh, God his children therefore saith, Is the loving purpose solely to preserve them, pure and holy? I'm thankful for the response we're receiving to these broadcasts. Many people tell me that they've been listening all their life, and they rejoice in the truth of God's grace that we emphasize. If you're blessed by the messages, we'd like to hear from you. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

We depend on our listeners for support, so in order to stay on your station, we need to hear from our listeners and have their help. Father, we rest in thy love, Father, we rest in thy love, Father, we rest, Father, we rest, we rest in thy love, Father, we rest in thy love, we rest, we rest in thy love, Father, we rest, we rest in thy love. The book of Hosea is a unique book.

We have beautiful descriptions of God's love, dark scenes of sinful activity, horrific descriptions of the judgments that God would bring on disobedient people. And today we come to the eleventh chapter of the book of Hosea, reading verses one to four. When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.

As they called them, so they went from them. They sacrificed unto Balaam and burned incense to graven images. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and it was to them as they that take off the yoke of their jaws and laid meat unto them. In the early part of this book, we saw God's love for his people, depicted by the love that Hosea had for his unfaithful wife.

And now we see that love displayed as a father loving a son. Now we worked through those chapters which described Israel's idolatry and the judgments that would come as a result. Vineyards and fig trees destroyed.

They would eat but not have enough. Ephraim would fall in their iniquity. The Lord says, I will tear them as a lion would devour them, and they would bear no fruit.

And on and on, verse after verse, chapter after chapter, describes the terrible sin of God's people and the severe judgments that would befall them. Now we're called to remember mercy. It's good to call to remembrance the blessings of former days. There are sometimes when people need to forget the past. The Apostle Paul said, forgetting those things that are behind, I press toward the mark for the pride of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

When a person spends much time grieving over the sins and mistakes of the past, nurturing some of the resentments and encouraging their bitter spirit to be sustained, it's something that must be rejected, forgetting those things. On the other hand, it's beneficial to us to recall the mercies of God from the past, to remember how gracious and good he has been to us so many times, time after time. So first, as we look at these verses, we think about remembering great mercy. The Lord says, I loved him. When the Israelite nation was in bondage, God loved them and brought them out. I said it was not because they were great in numbers that he loved them.

The fact is they were not. It was according to his own sovereign pleasure that he made choice of them and loved them. In the book of Deuteronomy chapter 7, beginning in the sixth verse, For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen and from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. What explanation then can be given as to why, looking at all of the nations upon the earth, God would select Israel. God would say, I love you.

I'm going to bring you out of bondage. I'm going to bless you to go to the land of promise. Of course, reference is made to the fact that there was an oath God had sworn to their fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, that he would bring them into that land.

So according to covenant, according to God's promise and arrangement, he is bringing the people out. What claim did Israel have on the Lord? What demand could have been made? What expectation could have been theirs on the basis of any merit or worth in them? Absolutely none. There was nothing about them that caused God to be moved toward them.

Nothing that would attract or demand his favor. And the same is true with us. We as believers have no merit, nothing by which we can claim the blessings and mercies of God. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 to 5. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. The wonderful truth of grace is repeated over and over again in God's Word. It's a truth in which we should continually rejoice. A truth for which we should regularly give thanks. If one is at all inclined, like the Pharisee, to boast, saying, I thank thee that I am not as other men, I am superior to others, I am not that great a sinner, obviously with that spirit they will never appreciate the grace of God. But if you've been convicted of your sin, if you've been made to see your unworthiness, if you've been made to realize that you could not possibly obligate God, that there's nothing about you that would demand his blessing, you will appreciate the wonderful truth of grace and continually be able to rejoice in it. The Kim writer expressed it like this, What was there in you that could merit esteem, or give the Creator delight? Twas even so, Father, you ever must sing, because it seemed good in thy sight. In the first chapter of the book of Ephesians, looking at verses 3 and 4, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.

Spurgeon said, Let others say what they will. Electing love will always be most precious to us, for it is the foundation blessing, the first of all favors, the mother of mercies. We nail to our mass the old flag of free grace, and believe with the apostle that we were predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

I love that expression. We nail to our mass the old flag of free grace, and may we ever wave that flag and rejoice in that truth of God's sovereign grace. So the text says that God loved his people. He loved them, and the explanation that he gives is because he loved them.

It was his pleasure to do so. And then he says, You were called my son. The idea of God as Father is not prominent in the Old Testament. They thought about him as being powerful, majestic, glorious, but they didn't think so much of him in terms as their father and they being his son. But here the mention is made in this passage that God calls Israel his son. And we're encouraged then as we come to the New Testament as Jesus speaks in the Sermon on the Mount to pray, Our Father which art in heaven. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5 says, Having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Predestinated us to be adopted, to be adopted into his family.

What amazing grace that is. We would think grace would indeed be something in which we could rejoice to think that we would be pardoned, that we would be forgiven, that we would be delivered. But to think of being adopted into his family, that he would claim us, recognize us as his children. First John chapter 3 verse 1 says, Behold what manner of love that we should be called the sons of God.

Think of it. You as a fallen sinner having violated God's law, having no merit to claim even the smallest of his mercies, would now be adopted into his family and to be considered his son. We are poor and sinful and unworthy. Romans 5 verse 6 describes this like this, For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. He died not to bless somebody who was worthy of blessing, but he died for the ungodly. Because of our fallen sinful nature, there is nothing in us, there is nothing about us that would bring us into fellowship with the holy God who hates sin, who is angry with the wicked every day. But because of this sacrificial death of his son Jesus Christ, going to the cross, laying down his life, suffering in those hours upon the cross, what man could never have paid for, suffering forever in hell, God's wrath being meted out upon all who ultimately would be believers in Jesus Christ, suffering in their stead when we were without strength, having no ability, no strength, no merit, nothing to offer, he died for the ungodly. A rebel by nature, but now by grace adopted into his family. Now somebody might object and say, well, no, I don't really consider myself a rebel.

Let's think about it a minute. How submissive have you been to the commandments of God over your lifetime? Have there not been times when you knew full well what scripture said, but you went the opposite direction? You did exactly contrary to what God commanded.

Was that nature down deep inside? I'm going to do what I want to do. Even though you might have thought momentarily about the consequences, you didn't let that stand in your way.

You went right on doing what you wanted to do. A rebel, but by grace subdued, humbled, changed, transformed, brought to the place that you desire above everything else to please your heavenly father. And though you recognize you still come short when you fail, you're broken, you're grieved. You come humbly to the throne of grace asking that God will forgive you and enable you to overcome those temptations that so easily beset them that you can go forward and live in a godly way to his praise and his honor. Romans chapter 8 verse 17 says, And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.

That's just almost too much to fathom, is it not? To think that we're born with a sinful nature, we've demonstrated it all of our life, we've sinned and come short of his glory. Our rebellious, obstinate nature is within us and now not only pardoned, not only redeemed, not only cleansed, but adopted into his family and to become a joint heir with Jesus Christ. So that everything that he has is yours. Nobody could claim, I earned that, I deserve that, but it's yours by his free and sovereign grace.

Yes, called my son. Called out of Egypt. The chosen were in bondage, they were made slaves, they suffered under the whip of their taskmaster, they cried out, they groaned because of their situation.

God did not leave them there. Jeremiah 31 3 says, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. I've loved you, my love is everlasting. From everlasting to everlasting, it's always been and it doesn't run out.

It goes on forever and because of my love, I have drawn thee. He calls his own with irresistible grace. Romans chapter 8 verse 30 says, O Mark whom he did predestinate them he also called. The number is the same. Those that are predestinated are called. And this doesn't indicate just an invitation.

This is talking about an effectual drawing. The predestinated are brought to him, called, because the called are justified and the justified are glorified. So you start with a number that predestinated before the foundation of the world and you come to the same number glorified in heaven ultimately when they're resurrected and conformed perfectly to the image of Jesus Christ to sing his praise forever. He called them.

In Mark 6 37 he says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And somebody will object and say well suppose they don't want to come. Well in nature none of us wanted to come.

Left to ourself we never would have come. And yet he says they're going to come. Now does that mean that he drags them as they seek to resist? And they object to hold the way?

Absolutely not. By the effectual work of the Holy Spirit a transformation occurs deep within and that individual who had no interest in it at all suddenly sees Jesus Christ as being the glorious Savior that he is and their desires for him and they long to be in fellowship with him and to know that he has forgiven them. This is the work of God's grace.

All that the Father giveth me shall come. Not one of them shall ever be lost. Impossible for anyone chosen by the Father, given to the Son, redeemed at the cross, called by the Holy Spirit ever to be lost. They're saved, secure by his grace. Jesus said in John 10 27, My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. They recognize the voice. They gladly follow. And so today if you have it in your heart, a desire to follow him, you recognize his voice in the gospel message.

You recognize his voice as he moves upon you and draws you by his Holy Spirit. Israel would never have come out of Egypt had not God brought them out. It would have been an impossibility. How could these people who were slaves decide one day we're going to resist? We're going to pack our things and leave. No way they could possibly have ever come out.

They wouldn't even have entertained the idea it was such an impossibility. But the Lord says, I have brought you out. I've brought my son out. He prepared the way. He prepared Moses sparing his life when all of the infants were being put to death. So that he was discovered by Pharaoh's daughter by what providence and brought up in Pharaoh's house and ultimately able to lead the people.

And so God brought them out. And then there are prophetic words in this passage when he says, I brought my son out of Egypt. Because in the book of Matthew chapter 2, we read these words in the 14th and 15th verses. When he arose, and that speaks of Joseph, Jesus' earthly father. When he, Joseph, arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt and was there until the death of Herod. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, out of Egypt have I called my son. So casually reading through the book of Hosea, it would never dawn on you to think that there was a prophetic reference in this. That I brought my son out of Egypt. But when we come to the Gospel of Matthew, we find him referring to this Old Testament prophecy and saying that it referred to Christ.

When Joseph had to take him down to Egypt to escape the edict at that time that the children were being slaughtered. And I have brought him out and this calling of Christ out of Egypt speaks of calling all that are kids through him out of spiritual slavery. Hail me, Moses, hail me, my Savior makes me whole. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, allowing, keeping, loving, he is with me to the end.

In this book of Hosea, when we have seen so many dark pictures of Israel's sin and of the judgments that came upon them. How refreshing to read though of God's marvelous grace, the Father's love that he had for his people. May we rejoice today in the greatness of God's love, our Heavenly Father who loves us and holds us up according to his mercy.

I hope that you will write us and until next week at the same time may the Lord richly bless you all. Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, he is with me to the end. Jesus, what a help in sorrow while the billows o'er me roll, even when my heart is breaking, he my comfort helps my soul. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving, he is with me to the end. Jesus, what a guide and keeper while the tempest still is high. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, he is with me to the end. End